20:20 chief welcomed by LG and Sony Ericsson bosses

New 20:20 CEO Meinie Oldersma has been given the thumbs up by LG sales director John Barton and Sony Ericsson UK MD John Harber.

Both Barton and Harber said they thought Oldersma’s appointment was a positive move for the distributor, which suffered a significant drop in profits in October.

Barton said that Oldersma’s experience of steering his previous company Ingram Micro’s Chinese division should prepare him for the competitive UK distribution market. Barton said: ‘It seems like he has a lot of experience to bring to the role. He’s ticking a lot of boxes.’

Harber, who did business with Oldersma’s previous company in his last role for Sony, added: ‘Ingram Micro was super-efficient; their whole supply chain was super-efficient. It had a really low-cost base, and it was all above board and slick. I have no doubt he’ll bring a load of experience.’

Both Barton and Harber said they felt Oldersma’s lack of mobile industry experience would not be a problem. Barton said: 'It'll bring a fresh pair of eyes to the market – it’s not entirely a bad thing when someone comes from outside the market.’

Harber explained: ‘It will obviously take a while to get to know the market, but he’ll have a good fleet of people below him. And he’s not going to be selling the phones, there will be people beneath him to do that.’

Barton said Oldersma’s IT experience could be significant: ‘It points to the C-word: convergence. If the phones in our pocket had screens as big as PCs, we'd do everything on our phones. It's all about convergence.’